Does Story in Games Matter?

"Spec Ops: The Line" is being praised as a mediocre game saved by a great story. Is story really that important in a video game?

[SavageKuma]

To me I see the same thing in comic books. The artwork can be crap, but if the story is great to read, it will still pull in the community. That said it is kind of hard to do that with video games and movies. The story can be great but if it is not physically playable you will end up putting it down anyway. Hardly anybody can sit through bad gameplay no matter how great the story is. You dd a great article, definitely sharing this.

[Trebius51]

Id rather play a game with bad gameplay and a GREAT story, than a game with GREAT gameplay but a terrible story.

Im a very story driven kind of player, i cant stand playing a game if i have no interest in the story. More often than not ill continue to play it til i beat it, because i dont like to quit on a game, i just wont replay it.

Ive been an RPG fan since the NES era, and was sucked into video gaming by story driven games (mostly Squaresoft). So ive developed a personal standard as to what is acceptable and what isnt in regards to plot and the way it unfolds in a game. Not many people are as fickle as me though.

[DivineAssault]

i feel your pain.. The game feels more like a chore if the story isnt good but some games are good without.. Demon/Dark Souls for example arent story driven but they are FANTASTIC games.. FF 13 story sucked & i had to force myself to complete it.. I do believe all games should be like a book & have a great story to tell.. Not just some slapped together title (shooters) that have a 5hr campaign & the story is told through your headset talking $hit & annoying ppl

[LightofDarkness]

Ok, so what about racing games? Sports titles? Old-school shooters? Within your criteria, it is impossible for those games to be good.

For instance, Madden 2013 doesn't need a massive over-arcing storyline about robots and the nature of existence. It just needs to look and play like football, and it will be fit for purpose.

[LightofDarkness]

DP?

[MysticStrummer]

I'm the exact opposite. I'd rather have great gameplay and a subpar story than the other way around. If the gameplay is bad, you might as well just youtube the cutscenes or look up the story online some other way. That's not to say story doesn't matter, but it's of secondary importance to gameplay for me. Graphics would bring up the rear in that hierarchy.

[Kran]

I'm mixed with that, because if a game supposivly has a great story but the game is merely unplayable, would you really bother?

[Tdmd]

Some of my favorite games this gen had very little - if nothing at all - going for their stories: Demon's Soul, Dark's Souls, Dragon's Dogma, Borderlands, LittleBigPlanet, White Knight Chronicles 2.

Anyway, my point is, even though we SHOULD NOT settle for a great story OR a great gameplay (games are not cheap and we deserve both), I think that gameplay comes first. If the gameplay is lacking, I would give up before the story had a chance to shine.
That's not to say story doesn't matter, for it really does - it makes great games even greater (Uncharted, Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption, Valkyria Chronicles...). But it should take the backsit, imo.

[Getowned]

If the game has a bad story than its not even worth playing imo. Shooters are a different in a way where I am more likely to play it for the online aspect in which case Gameplay would be the most important. It's vary rare that shooters have a good story and one of the few that actully did was HL2.

The thing that bugs me the most is that everyone thinks that every shooter need mp. Not ever shooter needs it and most of the time it feels tacked on and useless where more time should of been spent making more missions or something.

Story driven games are the best, its why Uncharted(1,2,3) are so great, It's why I love RPGS, It's why I play Games!

[brish]

To me a game has to entertain me in some way for me to consider it good.

There are some games I like that I don't care for the plot and have ok game play but provide an interesting world to explore (Skyrim, Fallout 3).

There are also games I like that have amazing stories and ok game play that I want to keep playing because I want to find out what happens next in the story (Red Dead Redemption, Dragon Age: Origins).

Some games I like have limited stories but have amazing game play (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls).

There are many ways to add entertainment value to a game. Story is just one way.

[CustardTrout]

It can, Spec Ops was average for gameplay but the story blew my mind.
Sometimes it has to be gold though.

[cstyle]

Go play the walking dead and ask that question.

[mcstorm]

It all depend on what type of gem it is. For me Game play is the most important.

[DivineAssault]

Yes stories matter.. 25% story, 25% graphics, 25% mechanics, 25% sound make games great... A nice balance between all 4 portions of a game..FF 13 wouldve been much better to me if the story was good.. There were a few other things i didnt like but the story wouldve kept me much more interested had it been better

[goldwyncq]

Story and gameplay have equal importance to me. If one of those is terrible and the other's good, then overall it would still be pretty bad.

[tarbis]

Why not? Games are like movies. They tell a story of fictional world married to a good gameplay and we have a winner for that.

[LightofDarkness]

Different strokes. Also, in my case, different moods. Some of my most savoured games have yarns about 2 inches long but that never stops me from enjoying them again and again. I'm talking about games like Megaman, Super Mario, Doom, Quake, Unreal, Burnout, etc.

Not every game needs a great story. A lot of it comes down to genre tropes, e.g. JRPGs are expected to deliver a great story to drive the player forward, while often the gameplay can take a back seat. In that genre, a great story can often save a mediocre game, but the reverse can also be true at times. Sometimes I feel like I want to be told a great story, others I want to get off the rails and forge my own. There's no one right answer.

[Hicken]

The absence of a story, or a very simple story isn't the same as a bad one. And sometimes, what little story there is sets the gameplay up nicely.

Sports and racing games don't need a story, but whatever story they DO have must feed into the gameplay. That's what I think, anyway.

[Getowned]

you mean like dark souls and demons souls, the story took a huge back seat, and the game play was hugely addicting lol .. great games but if the story was more involved I think they would be even better than they are

[LNDCalling]

In short.... YES!

[LNDCalling]

It does depend on the game though! e.g. I loved Pack Man / Munch Man, Tetris and various puzzel games and the like and story wasn't important there.

Something like this for me:-

Shooter / FPS: Yes
Action / Adventure: Yes
Platform: Yes
Role-Playing Games (RPGs): YES
Puzzle: No
Simulations: No
Strategy/Tactics: Yes and No
Sports: No
Fighting: Yes and No
Dance/Rhythm: No
Survival Horror: YES

[Summons75]

Story and Gameplay are the most important things in a game. If a story sucks the game sucks, if gameplay sucks you aren't going to enjoy the game as much as you would if they were good. Games with a multiplayer focus are fine for that but there story are always terrible and dry. Graphics should never be a priority in making a game, yeah it adds to the game but focus on that after writing an awesome story and making smooth fun gameplay. Multiplayer dose NOT need to be in every single game, if it's focused like battlefield or cod then that's fine but Dead Space and Assassin's Creed do not need them those are story focused games and they should stay as such.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Yes, why yes it does.

[Edito]

Of course it DOES Duhhhh...

[Yumi-Yumi4urTummy]

Short ones yes, long ones, I don't have the time for B.S. I want action.

[taquito]

uhhhhh.yes......

for me, unless its an online shooter (bf3, mw3, MoH ect)
an rts/strategy or a civ like sim it matters more than anything.

An Rpg, action platformer, ect, the story is what propels me forward and keeps me yearing for more content.

[Trenta27]

It's why I play games. I don't really do it for the fun. Even if it's considered the worst game in the world, as long as it has a decent story, I will play it.

[Saryk]

Same, I go for story.

[amaguli]

If it is not a sport or a shoot 'em up, I need a good story to invest my time into.